SOURCE: A review of Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus, in European Magazine, Vol. 76, December, 1819, pp. 534-37.

In the following review, the anonymous critic briefly describes the plot and subject matter of Ernestus Berchtold.

If it be one of the highest faculties of invention to combine the natural with the marvellous, and to develope the human character with the consistency of truth, in a sphere of action beyond the range of possibility, this extraordinary tale [Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus] may claim no obscure place in the department of literature to which it belongs. In regard to the nature of its subject, it may be said to hold the same rank among novels which is assigned in the drama to the Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, or to Horace Walpole's play, called The Mysterious Mother But the case of Ernestus Berchtold differs essentially from that of the Theban...